Magic Mike wins hearts of bidders at show sale

I come from a family of proud stockmen and when I was younger my weekends and school holidays where always filled with riding horses and mustering cattle.
There isn’t a job I would rather be doing.
There are not too many jobs where you learn something new every day.
I have struck a good balance in Mackay and I love that I can work at the busy newspaper and I still have time to compete at Campdrafts on the weekends.
I am still a country girl at heart and I think Mackay still feels that little...

The stylish 13-month-old bull won his class at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, then went on to be the second-top priced bull sold at the show sale.

The Tasmanian bred angus bull travelled by road and sea from Heazlewood family's Platinum Angus Stud at Mount Direction, which is situated about 20 minutes' drive from Launceston, to compete against the best stud stock in Australia.

Named after the lead character from the film Magic Mike, which was played by Hollywood star Channing Tatum, the angus version of Magic Mike was already poised to turn heads.

His now former owner Daryl Heazlewood said he was rapt with the young bull's performance.

"He sold for $11,500,” he said.

"So we are very happy, I was hoping he might make $10,000 so he sold better than I expected.”

Due to school commitments, Daryl's wife Kate and kids Tom, 10, and Olivia, 9, could not make the trip to Sydney.

"Tom and Olivia taught him how to lead and to them he is really more like a big dog than a bull,” he said.

Magic Mike's journey to Sydney included sharing a truck and ferry ride with thoroughbred horses from Tasmania to Melbourne before heading to Goulbourn for a few days' rest and again hitting the road for Sydney.

"Tasmanian horse transport really looked after him,” Daryl said. "He only lost 10 kilos in the trip ... he walked off the truck looking full and happy.”

Daryl has worked at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in the past, but this was the first time he brought his own stock across the Tasman.

Magic Mike's eye appeal and temperament prompted him to commit to competing at Sydney's show.

"I had showed his mother in Tassie and she won senior interbreed cow at a couple of Royals and since he was already broken in and was a pretty handy calf... and the judges had given some good comments about him, we thought we should see how he goes in the big smoke,” he said.

"He is one of the best bulls I've ever bred.

"To start with he is really quiet, so that makes it easy. He has a good sire head on him and for his age he is very thick and muscly - he walks well too.”

Daryl only knows a handful of other Tasmanian breeders who have travelled to the show with stock, but he said he would definitely come back.

"Sydney is one of the premier shows in Australia, so to compete here and to win a class, it's great exposure for the stud,” he said.

Picking Magic Mike's name was a simple decision for Heazlewood family: "I just thought it was a good name for a good-looking bull.”